Current Affairs, News & Facts of 25 May 2016

United States has fully lifted its decades-long ban on the sale of military equipment to Vietnam, its one-time enemy.

US Arms embargo on Vietnam has been in place since 1984 over the human rights issue.

In recent times Vietnam had been arguing for an end to this embargo, which was partially lifted in 2014.

Mr Obama's visit comes 41 years after the end of the Vietnam War in which the US sought to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam.

Several million Vietnamese civilians, communist fighters and South Vietnamese soldiers were killed, as well as more than 58,000 US soldiers.

Obama is the third US President to visit Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Other two Presidents were Bill Clinton (visited in 2000) and George W. Bush (2006).

Diplomatic Cause : The move comes as US is trying to bolster its relationship with its Pacific allies, as China asserts territorial claims. It should be noted that Vietnam is one of several countries in the Pacific region involved in maritime disputes with China.

The HRD Ministry is all set to launch a programme christened -ASMITA- that would probably be the world’s largest student tracking system.

ASMITA is acronym for All School Monitoring Individual Tracing Analysis and shall be launched under Shala Asmita Yojana (SAY).

Shala Asmita Yojana (SAY) aims to track the educational journey of close to 25 crore school students from Class I to Class XII across 15 lakh schools in the country.

Students will be tracked through their Aadhaar numbers and incase those not having unique number will be provided with it.

ASMITA will be an online database which will carry information about student attendance and enrolment, mid-day meal service, learning outcomes and infrastructural facilities, among other things, on one platform for both private and government schools.

Odisha government has promulgated the Odisha Official Language (Amendment) Ordinance 2016, to ensure use of Odia in all government systems.

The Ordinance empowers the state government to make rules, review and monitor the implementation of Odisha Official Language Act, 1954.

The Ordinance makes mandatory use of Odia in all official communication. The Ordinance makes mandatory use of Odia in all official communication.

Legal provision for Official Language : Article 345 of the Indian constitution empowers state legislature to adopt ‘any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes’ of the concerned State.

The Union government announced the names of 13 more cities that will be developed under the Centre’s “Smart City Mission.”

These cities have been selected from 23 cities which took part in a fast-track competition.

This list was topped by Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and was followed by Warangal in Telangana and Dharmashala in Himachal Pradesh.

This takes the number of cities selected in the first phase of the Smart Cities Mission to 33 and the total proposed investment through Union and state governments as well as private funding, comes to Rs 80,789 crore.

Renowned scientist S K Sharma has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for a period of five years.

In his new role, he will be responsible for design, construction, commissioning and operation of nuclear power reactors. He is presently working as Distinguished Scientist and Director (Operations) in NPCIL.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) :

NPCIL administered by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is a government-owned corporation responsible for the generation of nuclear power for electricity.

Established: September 1987 under the Companies Act 1956.

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

NPCIL was the sole body responsible for constructing and operating India's commercial nuclear power plants till setting up of BHAVINI ( Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam ) in October 2003.

National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) has signed a MoU with Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) to jointly explore the possibility of setting up an aluminium smelter in Iran. The signing of the MoU coincides with the visit of prime minister Narendra Modi to Iran.

For the proposed smelter plant NALCO will supply alumina from its refinery in India. For the proposed smelter plant NALCO will supply alumina from its refinery in India.

The MoU also envisages tolling arrangement with existing smelters in Iran for producing aluminium from alumina supplied by Nalco and also proposes to look into other businesses.

National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) :NALCO is the public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Mines. It is Asia’s largest, and the sixth largest, integrated aluminium complex in the world. Its business encompasses alumina refining, bauxite mining, aluminium smelting and casting, power generation, rail and port operations

An agreement for an IBRD loan of USD100 million was signed between the Government of India and the World Bank for the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernization project.

Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernization project is aimed at providing city-wide access to a continuous piped water supply and strengthening the service delivery arrangements at the city level.

Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) is the implementing agency for the project. The project will be implemented over a period of 6 years in the cities of Hubballi and Dharwad.

About the project : Under the project Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation has hired a professional water supply operating company for improving the water supply system. The municipality will retain its ownership over the water supply assets and shall also control of the service delivery set up.

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India and Mozambique have signed three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on reduction of drug trafficking and psychotropic substances and related materials, cooperation in the field of youth affairs and sports, and long term agreement for purchase of pulses .

These MoUs were signed between Secretary of Economic Relations in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Amar Sinha and Mozambique's Finance Minister in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Filipe Nyusi, President of Mozambique.

Modi is the first Indian prime minister to visit Mozambique in 34 years. He will also visit South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya.

Long term agreement for purchase of pulses : India's commitment to buy pulses from Mozambique would help meet India's requirement. It will also facilitate long-term investments in commercial farming, generation of farm employment and raise farmers' incomes in Mozambique. India will encourage greater production of pulses in Mozambique with an assurance that it will be purchased by India at a mutually-agreed price.

Jul 07, 2016Govt nod to MoUs between India and Mozambique in the field of Drug demand reduction and prevention of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Mozambique on Drug demand reduction and prevention of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals and related matters.

The MoU is aimed to enhance mutual cooperation between the two countries in combating illicit trafficking in Narcotic drugs, Psychotropic substances and their precursors through exchange of information, expertise and capacity building.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved a long-term contract by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mozambique for import of pulses either through the private channels or Government-to-Government (G2G) sales through State Agencies nominated by the two countries.

Key Facts about the MoU :

The MoU aims at promoting the production of Pigeon Peas/Tur and other pulses in Mozambique by encouraging progressive increase in the trading of these pulses.

The MoU includes targets for exports of Tur and other pulses from Mozambique to India for five financial years and aims at doubling the trade from 100,000 tonnes in 2016-17 to 200,000 tonnes is 2020-21.

Background : The total availability of pulses including domestic production and imports were was less than domestic requirements putting pressure on the prices of pulses during the year 2015-16 and current year. To mitigate the shortfall in availability of pulses and supplement the existing efforts at meeting the requirements, the government has decided to enter into long term G2G arrangement with Mozambique.

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